Cars In Florida

I AM writing in response to all the articles about out-of-state car tags and the cost of registering cars in Florida that were purchased out of state. I have been an owner of one of these for five years now, and since I don't have a relative living in my home state any more, I must now purchase a Florida license plate - a $467 item.Here is my solution: Finance the tag for one year. Use a special tag - maybe different colored month-and-year stickers, or a faint colored line through the center of the tag. Police can easily check these tag numbers while sitting behind a car at a stop light or following a car down the road to see if payments are up to date.

"Snow, slush and ice is on the way! Is your vehicle winter ready?" So says the press release from a tire company – one of many such releases sent out this time of the year. Obviously, in the Sunshine State, if we get much "snow, slush and ice," we'll have bigger problems than wondering if our vehicles are ready for it. But as odd as the idea of "winterizing" your car in Florida may be, there's still something to it. The annual winterization process serves the duplicate purpose of checking out our car or truck, and replacing those things that need it. No, there's no need in Florida for serious winterization – forget the snow tires – but there are aspects of winterization that are worth your attention.

A hard-roofed car gets you there -- but a convertible makes the trip thrilling. At least, that's what many Floridians feel. They must really love classy, wide-open cars, for they've made Florida No. 1 in the nation in convertible sales. Chrysler, the nation's largest convertible manufacturer, sells one of every five of its open-roofed cars in Florida.Why convertibles? Talk to a convertible owner, and you won't hear about mundane matters like gas mileage or mufflers. It's the ephemeral qualities that convertible owners love, like the style and verve of the car -- convertibles, quite simply, are a lot more fun.Not since Disney was some faraway place in California have convertibles had such popularity in Florida and around the nation.

If you are buying or selling a used vehicle in Florida - or any of 450 geographical sites around the world, including Turkey, Tunisia and Thailand - the impact of Craigslist can't be denied. On September 12, sellers posted more than 4,400 vehicles for sale under the "Cars & Trucks" listing on the Orlando site of Craigslist.org in one 24-hour period. A comparable number was placed in the South Florida portion of Craigslist, with listings ranging from a Bentley Arnage to "Ford Focus No Engine.

There will soon be something new in the sea of red rental econoboxes around Orlando tourist destinations: a sporty subcompact souped up by auto legend Carroll Shelby especially for Thrifty Car Rental.The CSX-T is a ''Shelby-ized'' Dodge Shadow, with modifications and trim, and paint job exclusive to Thrifty (using the chain's colors of blue, silver and white. The car is small but not short on pep. The four-cylinder 2.2 liter engine is turbocharged and the car is outfitted with a five-speed transmission, four-wheel disc brakes and a tuned suspension.

New residents and first-time car buyers should pay a $100 impact fee for the privilege of driving on Florida's roads, House Speaker Jon Mills said Friday.Mills said the impact fee would help the state pay for the roads, highways and bridges needed to handle the 750,000 vehicles registered in Florida each year.Residents who trade their cars for new vehicles would pay the normal registration fee, which ranges from $12 to $30, depending on the vehicle's size.The impact fee would be paid in addition to the registration fee but only when new residents register their cars in Florida.

When state environmental officials leafed through the state's $42 billion budget, they got a surprise on Page 267.In a little-noticed line item, the Department of Environmental Protection has been given a new, $900,000 program to promote the use of electric cars in Florida - an effort driven by some influential backers.''It was not our proposal, and we were not consulted,'' said Joy Mills, a Department of Environmental Protection spokeswoman. ''We are surprised as anyone by it.''The measure, tucked into the budget by Sen. Jim Scott, R-Fort Lauderdale, specifically requires the state to hand $3,000 rebates to the first 300 people buying electric vehicles in Florida.

Newcomers would have to pay $100 to register their cars in Florida under a bill passed Thursday by the House Finance and Taxation Committee.The committee also passed a bill aimed at making Floridians pay the sales tax on mail-order purchases, and one of its subcommittees approved a bill allowing county voters to levy a half-cent local option sales tax and up to 5 cents more of gasoline tax.The $100 fee on new car registrations would be added to existing tag...

Racing may be Florida's highest profile link in the development of the automobile, but there's another reason why Florida is important to the auto industry: It's a hot place to sell cars, new and used.The population and tourist booms in Florida have led to an explosion of car sales.In 1994, more new cars and trucks were registered in Florida than all other states, except California. In all, nearly 1.3 million new cars and trucks were registered in Florida in 1994, the latest year for which statistics are available.

Attention, all crooks: Car rental companies are on to your tricks.A rash of ''smash-and-grab'' robberies in Dade County prompted the Hertz Corp. on Tuesday to announce it was eliminating bumper stickers and other insignia in Florida that made the cars - and their occupants - easy prey for thugs.Budget Rent a Car Corp. said it, too, had recently dispensed with the stickers in South Florida. Avis Rent A Car System Inc. said it eliminated conspicuous vehicle advertising some time ago.''We believe the bumper stickers broadcast there is a tourist in the car, and they are an easy target,'' said Joe Russo, a spokesman at Hertz headquarters in Park Ridge, N.J. ''If tourism slips because people are worried about crime, our business slips, too.''Hertz, like other rental car companies, has used bumper stickers, license plate frames or company nameplates on the fronts of vehicles as a form of mobile advertising.

Tommy Ulrich is spending his first summer in Florida, and the Sunshine state, he says, is all it is cracked up to be, and more. "I have an SUV, and very little shade to park it in at home and at work. It takes the air conditioner forever to cool it down, Would tinting the windows help?" he asks. The short answer: It couldn't hurt. And if you haven't used add-on window tint in the past decade or so, you might be surprised and how much better it is than it used to be. Quality tint, properly applied, doesn't bubble up, streak, turn purple or peel every time you raise or lower the window.

It's the old chicken-or-the-egg situation, says Ed Ferree, a retired Delta Airlines pilot who is now co-owner of WattsNext, a Eustis-based company that installs electric car charging stations across Florida. Do we need a lot of commercial, public charging stations before people feel comfortable buying electric cars? Or do we wait until the electric cars are on the road, and then start installing the charging stations? Not surprisingly, Ferree thinks we need charging stations first.

When state environmental officials leafed through the state's $42 billion budget, they got a surprise on Page 267.In a little-noticed line item, the Department of Environmental Protection has been given a new, $900,000 program to promote the use of electric cars in Florida - an effort driven by some influential backers.''It was not our proposal, and we were not consulted,'' said Joy Mills, a Department of Environmental Protection spokeswoman. ''We are surprised as anyone by it.''The measure, tucked into the budget by Sen. Jim Scott, R-Fort Lauderdale, specifically requires the state to hand $3,000 rebates to the first 300 people buying electric vehicles in Florida.

At first, Ross Harold refused to believe the rumors racing around the Internet last fall.The chatter was that Nissan, notable these days mainly for its line of well-crafted, though largely unremarkable, cars and trucks, had quietly gathered a small number of used 1970 and 1971 model 240Z sports cars, was restoring them and would soon resell them as ''new-old'' cars with factory warranties.''You had to wonder, who would do something like that?'' said Harold, a 28-year-old engineer at Lockheed Martin in Houston.

Racing may be Florida's highest profile link in the development of the automobile, but there's another reason why Florida is important to the auto industry: It's a hot place to sell cars, new and used.The population and tourist booms in Florida have led to an explosion of car sales.In 1994, more new cars and trucks were registered in Florida than all other states, except California. In all, nearly 1.3 million new cars and trucks were registered in Florida in 1994, the latest year for which statistics are available.

The Tropica, a vehicle that just may be the first car ever completely manufactured in Florida, is on display at the North American International Auto Show, which runs through Sunday.Renaissance Cars, Inc. of Palm Bay hopes to begin marketing the sporty two-seat electric car sometime this spring.Orlando Chevrolet dealer Don Mealey has signed up to sell the car locally.Mealey said he visited Renaissance's factory in Palm Bay and was impressed with what he saw.Tropica will have a price tag of about $13,000.

Bruce Barnard remembers the day a guy came into the car showroom waving a Consumer Reports printout, determined to get a low price on a hot new vehicle.Barnard sold him the car all right - at $2,700 over an already inflated sticker price. And the buyer never figured it out.The guy broke the car dealers' cardinal rule of successful negotiation, the ex-salesman said: Be polite.In our mobile society, you've got to have a vehicle. And unless you have a rich relative who bequeaths you a used Rolls-Royce, you'll have to buy wheels from someone.

Car sales have always been a pretty good economic barometer, so my interest was piqued the other day when a fellow said he was tired of his 1969 Rambler and was going to trade it in.Curious as to what had restored his consumer confidence to purchase a new car, I was disappointed to learn that his intent was to ''trade down.''Things aren't really that bad for the Central Florida used-car business, but they have been a lot better. Fred Hagan, who has been executive director of the Florida Independent Automobile Association since he stepped down from the Florida Legislature in 1977, said car sales are slow but that when consumer confidence returns, car dealers will probably be the first to know.

I AM writing in response to all the articles about out-of-state car tags and the cost of registering cars in Florida that were purchased out of state. I have been an owner of one of these for five years now, and since I don't have a relative living in my home state any more, I must now purchase a Florida license plate - a $467 item.Here is my solution: Finance the tag for one year. Use a special tag - maybe different colored month-and-year stickers, or a faint colored line through the center of the tag. Police can easily check these tag numbers while sitting behind a car at a stop light or following a car down the road to see if payments are up to date.

Car sales have always been a pretty good economic barometer, so my interest was piqued the other day when a fellow said he was tired of his 1969 Rambler and was going to trade it in.Curious as to what had restored his consumer confidence to purchase a new car, I was disappointed to learn that his intent was to ''trade down.''Things aren't really that bad for the Central Florida used-car business, but they have been a lot better. Fred Hagan, who has been executive director of the Florida Independent Automobile Association since he stepped down from the Florida Legislature in 1977, said car sales are slow but that when consumer confidence returns, car dealers will probably be the first to know.